
Brackley's Magdalen College given government warning over report
Ms Gray wrote: "If I am not satisfied that this can be achieved, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust."While she did "acknowledge the verbal and written assurances the trust has already provided", she called for "longer-term plans" to ensure improvements to safeguarding arrangements.In June, Ofsted's report found pupils at the school had "failed to provide pupils with an acceptable standard of education".The school was downgraded from a previous rating of good, with inspectors finding it failed to ensure "pupils' physical safety".At the time of the report, the school said it "acknowledged" the outcome of the inspection and said it would take the judgement "seriously" as it committed to "urgent" improvements through a "rapid action plan".
What did the Ofsted report find?
The report, which followed an inspection in April this year, found "staff do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve or how they should behave", with pupil outcomes at the end of key stage four "too low".Inspectors found that "too often" pupils did not engage well or meaningfully with learning activities, with unacceptable levels of lateness or absence.Although "most pupils feel safe in school", the report also said they "frequently hear other pupils using discriminatory and derogatory language" but did not report it as "they feel the school will not do anything about it."But the report found the school had "developed a clear programme to support pupils' broader development", including online safety and adopting healthy lifestyles. It also found staff had "higher expectations" of its sixth-form cohort.It said that 1,348 pupils aged 11 to 18 attend the mixed gender school, of which 195 are enrolled in its sixth-form.
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The Guardian
33 minutes ago
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At a press conference on Monday, Nigel Farage told TV crews that he would discuss an open criminal investigation – the alleged rape of a child. But he said there would be nothing in the press conference that would go against contempt of court laws. Two men have been charged in connection with the alleged crime. When an alleged perpetrator has been charged, there are strict rules about what can be reported, to prevent prejudicing and potentially collapsing a trial. However, the leader of Warwickshire county council, George Finch, later made a number of references, including referring to the men as 'criminals' when they have not been found guilty. Farage then defended Finch when questioned as to whether he had broken contempt laws, saying it was 'good' that he had become 'slightly emotional'. The issue of naming the race of alleged perpetrators has been in the public eye since a baseless social media conspiracy theory surrounding Axel Rudakubana, the Southport murderer. 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The Guardian
33 minutes ago
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Tory and Reform politicians endanger trials with immigration ‘hysteria', say former ministers
Conservative and Reform UK politicians are fuelling 'hysteria and anger' over immigration, with criminal trials put at risk of collapse, former ministers and police have warned. Protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have spread across the country in recent weeks, while debate about immigration – including instances of misinformation – has intensified. At a Reform press conference on Monday, a man awaiting trial was referred to as 'the criminal' by a Reform council leader despite not yet being convicted of any crime. Questioned on whether contempt laws had been broken, the party's leader, Nigel Farage, said it was 'good' that the council leader had become 'slightly emotional'. Amid growing pressure, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on Tuesday that she had asked for a change in official guidance to permit police to release the ethnicity or immigration status of criminal suspects. 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The row over information withheld by police has been reignited after the 19-year-old Reform leader of Warwickshire county council, George Finch, said police were refusing to confirm details of two suspects charged after an alleged rape. Among other examples cited by critics was data used by Jenrick that 40% of all of the sexual crimes were committed by foreign nationals last year. The number of convictions is significantly lower. Grieve said he was extremely concerned about the consequence of the frenzied atmosphere on contempt of court laws, also citing the trial of two British Pakistani men over a police assault at Manchester airport. 'With social media, contempt of court has gone out of the window,' he said. 'It seems to be that it's a complete free for all, and for politicians who ought to know better to participate in this is actually scandalous. Certainly with some of the recent cases, politicians seem to have thrown the rulebook in the bonfire.' Buckland said he had supported changes to make the nationality of offenders publicly available, but he was concerned about the potential for misinformation. 'Politicians have a responsibility to use objective and tested data rather than distorted or incomplete information,' he said. Neill, a former Tory MP, said he was in favour of more transparency but alarmed at the willingness of politicians to risk undermining the courts. 'I'm afraid some people, including people in elected office, frankly do not understand the importance of the checks and balances in our system, which includes protecting the jury system,' he said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The former Labour justice secretary Charlie Falconer said: 'The opposition feel the need the whole time to get headlines by constantly describing things in an extremist way, all the time it's saying, 'society will be on the verge of collapse unless something is done,'' he said. 'The language is much, much worse than it ever was five years ago. There's a more angry electorate, and there's too many politicians willing to use lurid language.' A Home Office source said it was vital that there was 'greater clarity on how contempt of court laws work alongside social media and today's communication environment', but stopped short of issuing warnings to politicians. Hermer has so far declined to intervene to warn politicians on the risks of potentially collapsing criminal trials. In a sign of how far misinformation has spread, polling from YouGov found the British public 'dramatically overestimate' the number of illegal migrants to the UK. Almost half of Britons – 47% – think there are more migrants staying in the UK illegally rather than legally, including about a third who believe it is 'much higher'. There are varied estimates of the numbers of those living in the UK without formal status, which is difficult to calculate, but the Migration Observatory's most recent figures said it was up to 1.3 million. But legal migration is far higher – about 10.7 million people in the UK were born in a different country. Attitudes to migration have significantly hardened. About 45% of Britons say they would support 'admitting no more new migrants, and requiring large numbers of migrants who came to the UK in recent years to leave'. Rights groups including Amnesty International have cautioned against releasing suspects' ethnicities, accusing the government of 'choosing to pour fuel on the fire of dangerous narratives, instead of taking action to address racism and hostility'. Cooper said the government had asked the Law Commission to review the guidance six months ago and expected it to conclude in the autumn. 'We do think the guidance needs to change,' she said, adding that it was already the case that where police deemed it necessary more information on nationality was released.